Break 1 - Day 9 Snorkel at Lakeside

Kyle had been feeling under the weather for much of the trip. Given his general discomfort when driving, it could be that, or it could be something he is fighting – at any rate, he decided to stay home for the day and read while we ventured out (or maybe he just wanted a break from us :-).

So Mike & I headed off for another snorkel. We took a drive back to the reef side of the point, and decided to visit a couple of other sites first.

Again we spotted several wild emus. These ones were much less accustomed to humans and scurried away as soon as we left the car. We paid a visit to a local shipwreck (after a couple of wrong turns to other interesting spots). The ship was a cattle ship which wrecked around the turn of the century (1901 that is). It was salvaged for wood to build local houses, and then was used for bombing practice during the second world war. We then checked out a point to see the lighthouse, then to lakeside for a snorkel.

Lakeside was a bit more effort to get to, but was worth it. We had to travel a few hundred metres up shore from the parking lot. All along the way the beach was covered in jellyfish. The winds had shifted and they were being blown in shore. There were lots in the water too, but once you got out into the reef they were not as dense. Despite the numbers, we were extra careful and only Mike got stung, just once.

At one point, all the fish in the area where I was swimming darted in away. I decided not to find out why and followed them. Mike meanwhile was over a bit and caught the cause for concern - a large reef shark had come in. Reef sharks pose no threat to humans, but still trigger the natural response to a shark . Once you let your brain take over, it's neat to watch them cruise. Actually, the reef is so healthy here that most of the fish don't panic much when the shark approaches - they just saunter away.

Again there was lots of diversity of fishes. Puffer fish were quite common (photo'd at right). The little fluorescent blue ones which we had seen in Turquoise Bay were common here also.

There were some larger fish also - may have been mulloway (same as we saw caught off the jetty in Carnarvon).

We also spotted several rays - you have to be careful closer to shore since they blend in with the sand and you have to watch not to step on them (they sting).

Having snorkelled the Great Barrier Reef it is difficult not to constantly make comparisons. I really had expected the experience to be the same - but am surprised at how different it is at Ningaloo. We are lucky to have seen both to see the diversity.

And after a fair amount of searching, I finally found our anemone and clown fish. They are different here than the Great Barrier Reef, so it took me a while to spot them. These are tomato clowns and the anemone are much shorter and duller in colour. But their behaviour is the same - the clowns hover around the anemone for protection and anytime a threat comes near, they hunker down into the anemone.

We've decided that after our 2 days in Coral Bay, we'll head back to Mandurah - we're getting vacation saturated :-) But for tomorrow it's off to Coral Bay and more adventures!